Thursday, April 28, 2011

'Palestinians': 'Peace talks' possible but Fayyad out

Contradicting an earlier statement by Hamas 'foreign minister' Mahmoud al-Zahar, 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen said that 'negotiations' between the 'big tent' 'Palestinian Authority' and Israel are possible.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signaled on Thursday that peace talks with Israel would still be possible during the term of a new interim government formed as part of a unity deal with Hamas.

Abbas said the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which he heads and to which Hamas does not belong, would still be responsible for "handling politics, negotiations."

Even if this is correct, Israel ought to be refusing to negotiate knowing that the 'interim government' could be replaced by one headed by Hamas.

In the meantime, there's more good news for the 'international community.' Hamas and Fatah have agreed to relieve 'Palestinian Prime Minister' Salam Fayyad of his duties. Fayyad, a former employee of the World Bank, was the only 'Palestinian' many of the 'donor countries' trusted to handle their donations. Now, he will be gone.

The deal brings with it the risk of alienating the Western support that the Palestinian Authority has enjoyed. Azzam al-Ahmad, the Fatah negotiator, said that Salam Fayyad, the prime minister in the West Bank who is despised by Hamas, would not be part of the interim government. It is partly because of Mr. Fayyad, and the trust he inspires in Washington, that hundreds of millions of dollars are provided annually to the Palestinian Authority by Congress. Without that aid, the Palestinian Authority would face great difficulties.

Bibi has to stand strong if (when?) the EU-Quartet-Obama peace-process machine tries to rouge the corpse and argue through an elaborate parsing of the new Fatahamistan configurations that Israel has to offer unilateral concessions on the alter of the mythical negotiating table Fatah has used to cover its anti-Israel maneuvering.

Links to this post:

About Me

I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-three years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 10 to 31 years and seven grandchildren. Three of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com